5/20/2003

She plays tough on CSI: Miami, but Emily Procter’s heart belongs to herbig, fat cat Kevin-and high heelsThere are no skeletons in Emily Procter’s closet- but there are shoes.Fifty pairs of high heels, by her estimate. “Look at these!” yells theactress, hiking a pant leg up to reveal a fuchsia Christian Louboutinpump. “When I saw them in the window, I had to have them. I wore themto work, and people came by my trailer all day long to see them.”And therein lies the problem: Work happens to be on CSI: Miami, the hitCBS drama in which Procter plays Calleigh Duquesne, a no-nonsenseballistics expert. The kind of woman the show’s producers believedoesn’t boohoo over Jimmy Choo. So why isn’t she wearing flats in herscenes? “I get so much flack,” says Procter, 34. “They say, ‘If youwere an officer of the law, you would not wear high heels,’ and I say,‘That’s where you’re wrong. I wear high heels to clean my house. I wearhigh heels until I go to bed.’ I just don’t like my feet flat.”Footwear notwithstanding, no one denies Procter’s charm-or southernhospitality. The Raleigh, N.C., native regularly takes trays of tea tocast and crew in the afternoon. She’s also the show’s unofficial headcheerleader. “She brings on such an upbeat energy that it’sinfectious,” says David Caruso, who stars as Lt. Horatio Caine. “Emilyhas a warmth that comes through in her work,” agrees castmate KhandiAlexander. “When you’re beautiful and blonde, you have to keep provingyourself. But she’s got the chops. She’s not a twinkie. She proved thaton The West Wing.”Indeed, it was her recurring role as White House lawyer Ainsley Hayeslast season that drew the attention of CSI: Miami’s producers. Procterleapt at the offer. “I wanted to be on a show where the woman is smartand her voice matters,” she says.Procter, the younger of two children of William, a physician, andBarbara Jones, a community volunteer worker (they divorced when she was2), first made herself heard not onstage but in front of the map. Whileearning a journalism degree from East Carolina University, she got apart-time job doing the weather at WITN-TV in Greenville, N.C. In 1992she moved to L.A. to pursue acting. Small roles on TV (as Joey’sgirlfriend on a 1995 episode of Friends) and in movies (Jerry Maguire)eventually led to the part of Ainsley on West Wing.Working 14-hour days on Miami, with occasional jaunts to that city forlocation shoots, has crimped Procter’s social life. “It’s hard to date,because you have to reschedule things constantly, says the actress, whoshares a two-bedroom, two-bath Spanish bungalow in L.A. with Kevin, her19-lb. Cat. Not that she lacks for human companionship. Tuesday ispoker night. “It’s a group of guys and me,” she says. “I load up onCheese Nips, and we have a good time.” How good is she? And how much iswagered? “We don’t talk about those things,” says Procter. “Pokernights-it’s all about the cussing.”